THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE CONTAINS SWEARING
Hi guys, I was bored and felt kind of shitty today, so I decided to grace you guys with another chapter, especially since this story is far from over. To be honest, this story is discontinued, so this is just an epilogue, and will reference lots of things you guys don't know, but I've tried to fill things in for you. Warning, the beginning is uber depressing, but it gets much lighthearted as the story wears on. Also, this is the end, guys. No more chapters after this. Just an epilogue to what would have been used to tie up loose ends in the original plot.
WARNING: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, ALSO SOME...BAD LANGUAGE IF YOU THINK BASTARD IS A BAD WORD. ALSO SWEARING IN THE AUTHOR'S NOTES
"SO HERE WE ARE," Sophie sighed, as she sat on her bed, staring at her friends as the encircled her on the floor.
"Beaten," Biana held up her wrists, which were completely covered in bruises, courtesy of Fintan's iron whip.
"Broken," Keefe whispered as he lifted his hands to show Kenric's shattered cache, which he tossed to the ground, the sadly content look never leaving his eyes.
"Battered," Fitz winced as he shifted his palms to show the bleeding burns he had received from Ruy's Endoflame forcefield from when he had tried to protect Sophie from Rylan.
"Scarred," Dex shifted to show the newly pink scar tissue covering the left side of his neck from spending one too many hours in Alvar's torture chamber.
"But at least-," Linh said, wrapping her hand around her brother's closed fist, fresh tears already covering her face.
"-We're still alive, I guess," Tam finished darkly. He brushed the hair out of his eyes, and added somberly, "Well, most of us, that is."
Sophie bowed her head. Yes, they had stopped a rebellion, but at what cost? She knew the casualties for ogres, trolls, goblins, gnomes and dwarves were relatively low, but twenty two elves were dead. Four of them she knew personally, and the pains of their deaths still stung more than ever. How was it that Tam talked so freely about it?
"Are you going to Mr. Forke's Wanderling Planting tomorrow?" She turned to ask Keefe. Anything, anything would be better than remembering how the way the others died. For her.
Keefe turned away, not meeting her eyes. "I guess so." He turned back and stared into space remorsefully. "It seems that all we've been doing lately is going to Wanderling Plantings."
Dex nodded. "Yeah, first Tiergan's, and now Mr. Forkle's."
Sophie felt her breath hitch when he said that. Tiergan and Mr. Forkle had died the same day, truly brothers 'till the end, the day of the battle, and for no other reason than refusing to give her up to Alvar. The only reason their Plantings were held on different days was so that the Council wouldn't get the entire populous of The Lost Cities even more riled up than they already were.
But still. The memories were so fresh.
"Oh come on, she's just a girl. A freak, a mutant. An anomaly. She's not so special." Alvar taunted, his mortenskon-filled syringe held right up on Mr. Forkle's and Tiergan's tied up hands. "Give her up now, or die. It's your choice. We'll take her anyway."
Mr. Forkle's eyes' hardened at that, and she'd never seen the passive Tiergan so angry.
"You kids," Mr. Forkle taunted. "You always think you're so smart."
"We hate to break it to you, but we still have some tricks still up our sleeves," Tiergan finished, his eyes glowing an unearthly shade of blue.
"No!" Sophie cried weakly, her voice muffled by the rough cloth tied around her mouth as Rylan restrained her arms from behind.
The men didn't even turn around, her voice was so quiet and the sedatives soaked in the cloth were slowly seeping into her sinuses.
Her mental energy had run out a long time ago, but she wasn't about to give up without a fight. With the last remaining reserves of her strength, Sophie pooled her mental energy into one last attack and used a brain push of sheer force to try and knock Rylan loose.
The stupid bastard didn't even move an inch.
With the last of her energy gone, Sophie felt her eyelids close, and her voice die out, but her mind's eye was still intact as she pathetically watched the scene unfold before her.
She heard Tiergan gasp, then Mr. Forkle, as whatever mental attack they had been using was blocked. Small screams of pain echoed throughout the room as Alvar stuck the poisonous liquid-filled syringe straight into their palms.
Sophie then heard Mr. Forkle whisper his last breaths,
"It's time to take your place, Sophie Foster."
Then, she blacked out.
She couldn't help it when a tear slipped slowly out of her eye and rolled down her cheek when she reawakened those memories. Her photographic memory didn't help in her suppression.
"Hey," Keefe whispered sadly as his finger caught her tear before it rolled onto the ground. "No more crying, not yet." He grabbed her hand and turned to look remorsefully at Fitz and Biana. "You can wait until Alden and Della's Planting to do that."
Biana sobbed and buried her face into Tam's shoulder, and even though he looked very uncomfortable, he began to pat her arm comfortingly.
Fitz sat as still as a stone as his turquoise eyes became hard, his thoughts condemning every notion of his parents being dead. Sophie wanted to comfort him, she really did, but she just didn't know how.
Sophie did her best to hold back a sob as the entire room was ensconced in sadness. She hadn't been there the moment Alden and Della had been shot, twin hypercharged melder blasts to the head, but Fitz and Biana were. Maybe that was even worse.
No one knew who had fired them, it was in the heat of battle, but all evidence pointed to Alvar, who completely denied it. Who was to say if he was telling the truth or not? Sophie sure didn't believe him.
Alden was too much of a father to her for her to let him go so easily. He was loyal to the end, and kind too, with his reassuring smile and ability to make problems seem less like a disaster. It only reminded her of how precious a life was and how quickly it was taken away.
And Della. She was the fiercest woman Sophie had ever known. Beauty followed her wherever she went, but her dainty princess looks were just a sheer facade for her strength and willpower. Biana was so much like her.
Suddenly, angry yelling broke her out of her reverie.
"It's not fair," Keefe shouted, dropping Sophie's hand as he stood up. "It's not fair that Alden and Della get to die while my mom is still alive, doing who knows what."
Sophie didn't like the look on his face. It was far too much like the scared angry boy she had known a few weeks months earlier when he had trudged to the Neverseen, looking for a way to save the person he was just condemning.
"Keefe," Sophie started, grabbing his hand back as she pulled him down in a sitting position back on her bed. "Look at me."
She waited several seconds before he did so, ignoring the odd glances Dex gave her.
"Your mother has it worse off than Della or Alden. She's alive, and knows that she's not only betrayed her son and her family once, but twice. She has to live with knowing that she's responsible for the death of over a hundred innocent lives," Sophie took a deep breath. "Don't you think death is better than that?"
Keefe continued to glare at the ground, but still held onto her hand as if it was his lifeline. "I'm pretty sure my mom could live with that. She has no guilt complex whatsoever."
"Whatever's the case," Sophie argued comfortingly. "I'm sure Della and Alden are happy." She honestly had no idea who she was trying to convince more, herself or Keefe. "They're in a better place now. They have two beautiful children-" She glanced at the still stony Fitz and crying Biana. "Who still have their whole lives ahead of them. What's better than that?"
Keefe didn't answer after that, and Sophie was worried that her words would have no effect on him.
Finally, he sighed and slid down onto the ground, nearly crashing into Linh, who had started to comfort Fitz.
"I'm still going to cry at their Planting though."
Sophie let out a sad smile, and slid down to envelop him in a shoulder-hug. "No one said you shouldn't."
"Sophie! Fitz! Biana!" Edaline's gentle calls reverberated through Havenfield's enormous walls as Sophie slowly woke up, her eyes groggy from studying for midterms all night. Iggy's chainsaw-esque snoring hadn't helped either.
Not bothering to comb her hair or look in the mirror, Sophie made her way downstairs, meeting an equally sleep-deprived, but dressed and ready for the day Fitz, in the upper stairwell.
"Didn't sleep much last night?" Fitz asked, yawning.
"Nope," Sophie replied. "You?"
"Nah, I spent all last night studying for Telepathy exams. Sir Lorden won't be happy if I manage to fail this of all exams." He raised his eyebrows. "I'm guessing you didn't have to? Study for our Telepathy class, I mean."
Sophie smiled, knowing she had been caught. "Guilty as charged. I brushed up on Inflicting instead."
Fitz nodded, understanding. "Yeah, probably for the best. Bronte'd probably blow a fuse if you messed up on this midterm-no matter how nice he's been."
"Will you two idiots move? You're blocking the way," Biana grouched sleepily from behind, making Sophie jump. "I, for one, don't want to miss Edaline's breakfast spread-I heard she's making tortoiseberry tarts with flareadon eggs!"
Although Sophie had no idea what half of Biana said was, she moved out of the way in order to evade Biana's wrath, and followed her downstairs to the kitchen, Fitz in tow.
"Mmm, something smells good," she called to Edaline when they reached the kitchen.
Grady, who was already seated at the table and was devouring a plate of an oddly greenish looking pie with what looked like Cheetohs-colored egg yolks, gave a thumbs up. "It tastes even better than it smells."
Edaline smiled as she poked her head out from the kitchen, her face glowing with happiness. "Better hurry up and eat, you three, you don't wait to be late for Foxfire-on midterm of all days!"
"Right," Sophie breathed as she, Fitz, and Biana sat down at Havenfield's luxurious table and began to scarf down whatever delicious meal Edaline had cooked for them. Grady was right. The so-called tortoiseberry tarts tasted like ripe kiwi cheesecake, and the flareadon eggs tasted suspiciously like maple syrup candy. It was perfection on a plate.
"Hey," a voice called from the hallway over. "What's taking you guys so long?" Keefe magically materialized from the Leapmaster 500 next to Sophie, and glared at her accusingly.
"You're early today, Keefe," Grady mused as he sent halfhearted stares in the blond-haired boy's direction. After being a regular at Havenfield in the mornings, his death glare was losing its touch, though Grady never forgot to grant Keefe with it every day.
Keefe waved the notion away, and replied, "Yeah, well, I didn't feel like doing any last-minute studying, so I got bored and decided to come here before school starts. Then me and Foster can leap to school together!"
"Keefe," Fitz rolled his eyes. "You always leap here before school starts."
"Yeah, and ever since we moved here, you always leap to school with us-and Sophie," Biana finished.
"Pish-posh," Keefe replied airily in a falsetto, once again waving away their complaints. He gasped suddenly when he looked at Sophie and jumped.
"Foster, you didn't tell me that you were having tortoiseberry tarts for breakfast!" He dragged over a chair and plopped it next to her, and began to scoop some of her breakfast off her plate.
"Hey, that's mine!" Sophie grumped as she fork-wrestled him for the last piece of her tart.
"Too slow, Foster," Keefe smirked as he foiled her fork-induced attack and dived for the tart, swallowing it before Sophie could complain.
He turned to Grady and Edaline. "See why there's a problem when you decided to adopt Fitz and Biana and not me?" He sighed dramatically. "I have to miss out on all of Edaline's cooking!"
"Keefe, you know we would've adopted you," Edaline said gently, her face in smiling softly. "You're a wonderful and handsome boy, but unlike Fitz and Biana, you already have a guardian, your father."
Keefe smirked. "Well, you got the handsome part right, but still, doesn't mean I have to like this living arrangement." He glared (mockingly, who knows?) at Sophie and Fitz. "There had better not be any funny business going on between you two!"
Fitz rolled his eyes, and Sophie did the same. "Oh please, Keefe, Sophie's basically my sister now."
For once, Sophie wasn't offended by that statement. She really did think of Fitz as a more brotherly figure, especially since he started living with her. That silly prior crush was long gone. Heck, that's why she wasn't too worried about her seeing her awful bedhead after waking up.
Now that they were on the subject of bedheads...
"Speaking of sisters," Keefe announced with a grin. "Yo, Foster, you know you've got a wicked bedhead right now? Do you know how much fun I'm going to make of you once we get to Foxfire?"
Sophie groaned. "Shut up, Keefe, you came in way early and unannounced. I haven't even changed yet, or brushed my hair, for that matter. I still have what, an hour left-before we have to be at Foxfire."
Keefe grinned and pointed at the nectar-powered clock hanging above the table. "More like ten minutes." He nodded at Fitz and Biana, who were already dressed and winked.
"What?" Sophie asked, jumping up out of her seat worriedly. "Only ten minutes?" She began to scramble her way up the stairs, tripping over her feet in the process. "That won't be enough time!"
They could hear the crashing of heavy objects as Sophie searched for her uniform and began to get ready.
Fitz turned to Keefe, who merely smirked.
"Only ten minutes, huh?"
Keefe's devilish grin only grew wider.
"More like an hour."
"You bastard, you."
THE END
Yeah, yeah, I know, Imma bitch, but what can you do? Anyways, special, special, special thanks to all of you wonderful people who wished me well, including JoySeph13, Guest, QuilAndInk9037, waterfallphoenix, Xylia Neo, JenCupcakes, Booknerd726, Sassy di Angelo, Reader125, Margare the cool, Twinkletoestbh, animaljam, Jojo, and TeamKeefe. You guys are so fucking amazing and I love you guys. If I missed anyone, feel free to send me a complaint at
1234 A Complete Moron Lives Here Ln.
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